Office of Public Participation Listening Sessions: Tribal Governments (Session 1)
Commission staff will host a series of listening sessions to give members of the public an opportunity to provide their thoughts and ideas about the creation of the Office of Public Participation (OPP).
Because of the unique relationship between the federal government and Indian Tribes, separate listening sessions will be held for representatives of Tribal governments, so that the Commission can assure that tribal interests and issues are considered in the development of OPP. Please note, while this session is open to the public, only representatives of federally recognized Tribal governments will be recognized to speak. Members of the public wishing to provide comments regarding tribal issues and interests are encouraged to attend the Environmental Justice and Tribal Interest Listening Session on March 22, 2021. Participants on the call have the option to listen only and can submit though eComment.
Pre-registration for speakers is highly recommended. Speaking priority will be provided to members of the public or representatives of Tribal governments who pre-register for a listening session. Participants who have not pre-registered will be invited to speak after pre-registered participants, time permitting. Participants on the call have the option to listen only and can submit though eComment.
In advance of the listening sessions, participants may wish to consider the issues listed below:
- Section 319 of the FPA states that the OPP will be administered by a Director. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(a)(2)(A)). In addition to the Director, how should the office be structured?
- Should the Commission consider creating an advisory board for OPP? If so, what role would the board serve and who should be on the board?
- How should the OPP coordinate assistance to persons intervening or participating, or seeking to intervene or participate, in a Commission proceeding?
- To what extent do you, or the organization you represent, currently interact with the Commission? What has hindered or helped your ability to participate in Commission proceedings? Have you engaged with other governmental entities—such as local, state, and other federal agencies—on matters involving your interests? If so, how did those agencies engage in outreach, and what practices improved your ability to participate in their processes?
- How should the OPP engage with Tribal Governments, environmental justice communities, energy consumers, landowners, and other members of the public affected by Commission proceedings?
- Section 319 of the FPA allows the Commission to promulgate rules to offer compensation for attorney fees and other expenses to intervenors and participants who substantially contribute to a significant Commission proceeding if participation otherwise would result in significant financial hardship. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(b)(2)). How should the Commission approach the issue of intervenor compensation? What should the OPP’s role be with respect to intervenor compensation? How should the Commission establish a budget for and fund intervenor compensation? What lessons can the Commission learn from the administration of similar state intervenor compensation programs?
The sessions will be open for the public to attend, and there is no fee for attendance. Listening sessions will be audio-only. Call-in information details, including preregistration, can be found on the OPP website. Information will also be posted on the Calendar of Events on the Commission’s website, www.ferc.gov, prior to the event. The listening sessions will be transcribed and placed into the record approximately one week after the session date.
The listening sessions will be accessible under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please send an email to [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-208-3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with the required accommodations.
The public may also submit written comments on these topics to the record in Docket No. AD21-9-000 by Friday, April 23, 2021. Please file comments using the Commission’s eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
Office of Public Participation Listening Sessions: Environmental Justice Communities and Tribal Interests
Commission staff will host a series of listening sessions to give members of the public an opportunity to provide their thoughts and ideas about the creation of the Office of Public Participation (OPP).
Pre-registration for speakers is highly recommended. Speaking priority will be provided to members of the public or representatives of Tribal governments who pre-register for a listening session. Following a brief introduction from Commission staff, each session will be open to the public for 3-5 minutes of comment per participant. Participants who have not pre-registered will be invited to speak after pre-registered participants, time permitting. Participants on the call have the option to listen only and can submit though eComment.
In advance of the listening sessions, participants may wish to consider the issues listed below:
- Section 319 of the FPA states that the OPP will be administered by a Director. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(a)(2)(A)). In addition to the Director, how should the office be structured?
- Should the Commission consider creating an advisory board for OPP? If so, what role would the board serve and who should be on the board?
- How should the OPP coordinate assistance to persons intervening or participating, or seeking to intervene or participate, in a Commission proceeding?
- To what extent do you, or the organization you represent, currently interact with the Commission? What has hindered or helped your ability to participate in Commission proceedings?
- Have you engaged with other governmental entities—such as local, state, and other federal agencies—on matters involving your interests? If so, how did those agencies engage in outreach, and what practices improved your ability to participate in their processes?
- How should the OPP engage with Tribal Governments, environmental justice communities, energy consumers, landowners, and other members of the public affected by Commission proceedings?
- Section 319 of the FPA allows the Commission to promulgate rules to offer compensation for attorney fees and other expenses to intervenors and participants who substantially contribute to a significant Commission proceeding if participation otherwise would result in significant financial hardship. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(b)(2)). How should the Commission approach the issue of intervenor compensation? What should the OPP’s role be with respect to intervenor compensation? How should the Commission establish a budget for and fund intervenor compensation? What lessons can the Commission learn from the administration of similar state intervenor compensation programs?
The sessions will be open for the public to attend, and there is no fee for attendance. Listening sessions will be audio-only. Call-in information details, including preregistration, can be found on the OPP website. Information will also be posted on the Calendar of Events on the Commission’s website, www.ferc.gov, prior to the event. The listening sessions will be transcribed and placed into the record approximately one week after the session date.
The listening sessions will be accessible under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please send an email to [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-208-3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with the required accommodations.
The public may also submit written comments on these topics to the record in Docket No. AD21-9-000 by Friday, April 23, 2021. Please file comments using the Commission’s eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
Office of Public Participation Listening Sessions: Landowners and Communities Affected by Infrastructure Development
Commission staff will host a series of listening sessions to give members of the public an opportunity to provide their thoughts and ideas about the creation of the Office of Public Participation (OPP).
Pre-registration for speakers is highly recommended. Speaking priority will be provided to members of the public or representatives of Tribal governments who pre-register for a listening session. Following a brief introduction from Commission staff, each session will be open to the public for 3-5 minutes of comment per participant. Participants who have not pre-registered will be invited to speak after pre-registered participants, time permitting. Participants on the call have the option to listen only and can submit though eComment.
In advance of the listening sessions, participants may wish to consider the issues listed below:
- Section 319 of the FPA states that the OPP will be administered by a Director. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(a)(2)(A)). In addition to the Director, how should the office be structured?
- Should the Commission consider creating an advisory board for OPP? If so, what role would the board serve and who should be on the board?
- How should the OPP coordinate assistance to persons intervening or participating, or seeking to intervene or participate, in a Commission proceeding?
- To what extent do you, or the organization you represent, currently interact with the Commission? What has hindered or helped your ability to participate in Commission proceedings?
- Have you engaged with other governmental entities—such as local, state, and other federal agencies—on matters involving your interests? If so, how did those agencies engage in outreach, and what practices improved your ability to participate in their processes?
- How should the OPP engage with Tribal Governments, environmental justice communities, energy consumers, landowners, and other members of the public affected by Commission proceedings? Section 319 of the FPA allows the Commission to promulgate rules to offer compensation for attorney fees and other expenses to intervenors and participants who substantially contribute to a significant Commission proceeding if participation otherwise would result in significant financial hardship. (16 U.S.C. § 825q–1(b)(2)). How should the Commission approach the issue of intervenor compensation? What should the OPP’s role be with respect to intervenor compensation? How should the Commission establish a budget for and fund intervenor compensation? What lessons can the Commission learn from the administration of similar state intervenor compensation programs?
The sessions will be open for the public to attend, and there is no fee for attendance. Listening sessions will be audio-only. Call-in information details, including preregistration, can be found on the OPP website. Information will also be posted on the Calendar of Events on the Commission’s website, www.ferc.gov, prior to the event. The listening sessions will be transcribed and placed into the record approximately one week after the session date.
The listening sessions will be accessible under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For accessibility accommodations, please send an email to [email protected] or call toll free 1-866-208-3372 (voice) or 202-502-8659 (TTY), or send a FAX to 202-208-2106 with the required accommodations.
The public may also submit written comments on these topics to the record in Docket No. AD21-9-000 by Friday, April 23, 2021. Please file comments using the Commission’s eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
Energy Expert Catherine Wolfram Joins Treasury Department As Climate Economist
Catherine Wolfram, a leading energy economist, has joined the Department of Treasury as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate and Energy Economics in the Office of Economic Policy.
Wolfram is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has done real-world research into the outcomes of policies such as rural electrification and weatherization assistance.
In 2019, Wolfram wrote sympathetically about the Green New Deal:“In general, though, I’m very sympathetic to the idea that the US government needs to do a lot more to address climate change, and the GND’s first steps aren’t totally whacky from an economics perspective. I hope Ocasio-Cortez and others succeed in mobilizing interest and putting climate change back in the political spotlight.”
She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1989 and her Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1996, and taught at Harvard before joining Berkeley.
From 2009 to 2018, she was the director of Berkeley’s Energy Institute, a utility and non-profit-funded research initiative.
In 2020, she became visiting faculty at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, an initiative heavily financed by the oil and gas industry.
Texas Freeze 101: Why We Need Public Power
Winter Storm Uri has devastated an unprepared, unregulated Texas grid leaving millions without power and at risk of exposure, carbon monoxide poisoning, and death.
Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, alongside the US right wing media apparatus, spent their spare time finding ways to blame this preventable disaster on wind energy and the Green New Deal. Texas Senator Cruz abandoned his constituents during the deadly storm to vacation in Mexico. The wealthy and powerful will do everything they can to evade the climate crisis they profit from.
Come Saturday at 2PM Central to learn the truth about what happened, how climate change and capitalism are at the root of the crisis, and what we can do to stop this from happening again. Author, journalist, and climate expert Kate Aronoff will join us to explain the situation, and directly impacted comrades in Texas will share their experiences and where our movement goes from here. We will also share mutual aid resources and other ways for you to best help out.
Biden's National Climate Task Force Has First Official Meeting, Forms Climate Innovation Working Group
The White House National Climate Task Force, formed by a recent executive order, held its first meeting today. The first tweet from National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy’s official account displayed the participants.
Additionally, the White House announced the formation of the Climate Innovation Working Group as part of the Climate Task Force. The working group, co-chaired by the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, Office of Science of Technology and Policy, and Office of Management and Budget, will focus on climate technology research, development, and deployment.
According to the White House, the working group’s priorities will be:- zero net carbon buildings at zero net cost, including carbon-neutral construction materials;
- energy storage at one-tenth the cost of today’s alternatives;
- advanced energy system management tools to plan for and operate a grid powered by zero carbon power plants;
- very low-cost zero carbon on-road vehicles and transit systems;
- new, sustainable fuels for aircraft and ships, as well as improvements in broader aircraft and ship efficiency and transportation management;
- affordable refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps made without refrigerants that warm the planet;
- carbon-free heat and industrial processes that capture emissions for making steel, concrete, chemicals, and other important industrial products;
- carbon-free hydrogen at a lower cost than hydrogen made from polluting alternatives;
- innovative soil management, plant biologies, and agricultural techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground;
- direct air capture systems and retrofits to existing industrial and power plant exhausts to capture carbon dioxide and use it to make alternative products or permanently sequester it deep underground.
As part of that initiative, the Department of Energy announced that $100 million of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds will be directed to the new ARPA-Climate initiative in support of basic research for advanced climate technology.
White House participants in today’s National Climate Task Force meeting:- Vice President Kamala Harris
- John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
- Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor
- Ali Zaidi, deputy White House National Climate Advisor
- Bruce Reed, White House Deputy Chief of Staff
- David Hayes, special assistant to the president for climate policy
- Sonia Aggarwal, Senior Advisor to the President for Climate Policy and Innovation
- Susan Rice, Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council
- Nicole Budzinski, Chief of Staff at Office of Management and Budget
- Brian Deese, Director of the National Economic Council
- Kei Koizumi, Chief of Staff and Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy; during Obama administration was Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development and Senior Advisor to the Director for the National Science and Technology Council at OSTP
- Cecilia Martinez, senior director for environmental justice, Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
- Mark Chambers, senior director for building emissions, CEQ; formerly director of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sustainability office
- Maggie Thomas, Chief of Staff, Office of Domestic Climate Policy
- Jahi Wise, senior adviser for climate policy and finance in the Office of Domestic Climate Policy https://coalitionforgreencapital.com/cgcs-jahi-wise-heads-to-white-house-domestic-climate-policy-office/
- Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation
- Janet Yellen, Secretary of Treasury
- Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense
- Tarak Shah, Chief of Staff, Department of Energy
- Katelyn Walker Mooney, Policy Advisor, Department of Labor, previously the associate general counsel for House labor committee Chairman Bobby Scott
- Jenn Jones, Chief of Staff, Housing and Urban Development
- Robert Bonnie, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Senior Advisor, Climate, Department of Agriculture
- Raj Nayak; was on Biden Department of Labor transition team, and deputy Labor chief of staff during the Obama administration
- Roque Sanchez; was on Biden DOE transition team, and a former White House climate advisor during the Obama administration
- National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy
- Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
- Attorney General (Merrick Garland, nominated)
- Secretary of the Interior (Deb Haaland, nominated)
- Secretary of Agriculture (Tom Vilsack, nominated)
- Secretary of Commerce (Gina Raimondo, nominated)
- Secretary of Education (Miguel Cardona, nominated)
- Secretary of Labor (Marty Walsh, nominated)
- Secretary of Health and Human Services (Xavier Becerra, nominated)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Marcia Fudge, nominated)
- Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
- Secretary of Energy (Jennifer Granholm, nominated)
- Secretary of Homeland Security (Alejandro Mayorkas, nominated)
- Administrator of General Services (no nomination yet)
- Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (Brenda Mallory, nominated)
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Michael Regan, nominated)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Neera Tanden, nominated)
- Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Eric Lander, nominated)
- Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Susan Rice
- Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan
- Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
- Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Brian Deese
Sanders, Blumenauer, and Ocasio-Cortez Introduce National Climate Emergency Act of 2021
Legislation introduced today by Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) calls on the President of the United States to declare a national climate emergency and begin taking action in line with the goals of the Green New Deal resolution introduced in 2019.
The National Climate Emergency Act mandates a presidential declaration of a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act of 1976, and directs the president to mobilize the nation for climate and economic justice, rebuilding the national labor movement to protect the habitability of our planet.
To ensure accountability to Congress and the American people, the National Climate Emergency Act requires that the president deliver a report within one year of the bill’s enactment (and then every year thereafter until the emergency sunsets) that details the specific actions taken by the executive branch to combat the climate emergency and restore the climate for future generations.As detailed in the legislation, this should include, but is not limited to, investments in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, upgrades to public infrastructure, modernization of millions of buildings to cut pollution, investments in public health, protections for public lands, regenerative agriculture investments that support local and regional food systems, and more.
“It might be a good idea for President Biden to call a climate emergency,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow last week. “Trump used this emergency for a stupid wall, which wasn’t an emergency. But if there ever was an emergency, climate is one.”
The legislation introduced today is supported by dozens of climate justice organizations including 350.org, Center for Biological Diversity, The Climate Mobilization, Food & Water Watch, Labor Network for Sustainability, Progressive Democrats of America, Public Citizen, Sunrise Movement, Justice Democrats, Greenpeace, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Align NY, Friends of Earth, and Climate Justice Alliance.
“We are at a life changing, civilization altering moment in our history, as we face a climate crisis that demands a thunderous voice and a full mobilization of every sector to match its scale and its urgency – all while serving as a great opportunity to build a more just and prosperous country,” said Varshini Prakash, Executive Director of the Sunrise Movement. “This bill is a good sign that our leaders are finally understanding what young people and climate activists have been shouting from the rooftops for years – that the fires that burned our homes to rubble, the floods that took our family and friends with them, are a climate emergency, and bold action must be done now to save our humanity and our future.”
“We’re already in a five-alarm emergency for communities on the frontlines of fossil fuel pollution and the climate crisis,” said John Noël, senior climate campaigner of Greenpeace USA. “Our government has squandered precious time in the fight for a liveable planet, and now we need legislation like the Climate Emergency Act to kick things into gear. Congress must mobilize in full force to declare a climate emergency then immediately act to end fossil fuel subsidies and reinstate the crude oil export ban. We have the unprecedented opportunity this year to advance climate, racial, and economic justice, and to create millions of union jobs in the process. This historic legislation is just step one.”
“Obstruction, corporate greed, and denial has left us with just 10 years to rapidly transition off fossil fuels and toward a 100% clean and renewable energy economy,” said Alexandra Rojas, Executive Director, Justice Democrats. “There’s no time to waste in declaring this a national emergency and taking swift action to create millions of good-paying union jobs in the process.”
Full text of the legislation:
A BILL: To require the President to declare a national climate emergency under the National Emergencies Act, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Climate Emergency Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘Climate Emergency Act of 2021’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:- The years 2010 to 2019 were the hottest decade on record.
- Global atmospheric concentrations of the primary global warming pollutant, carbon dioxide—
- have increased by 40 percent since preindustrial times, from 280 parts per million to 415 parts per million, primarily due to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation;
- are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per million annually; and
- must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per million, and likely lower, ‘‘if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted,’’ according to former National Aeronautics and Space Administration climatologist Dr. James Hansen.
- Global atmospheric concentrations of other global warming pollutants, including methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially since preindustrial times, primarily due to human activities, including the burning of fossil fuels.
- Climate science and observations of climate change impacts, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather, demonstrate that a global rise in temperature of 1.5 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels is already having dangerous impacts on human populations and the environment.
- According to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, climate change due to global warming has caused, and is expected to continue to cause, substantial interference with and growing losses to human health and safety, infrastructure, property, industry, recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems, and quality of life in the United States.
- According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme weather and other climate-related disasters, including drought, wildfire, and storms that include precipitation.
- Climate-related natural disasters have increased exponentially over the past decade, costing the United States more than double the long-term average during the period of 2014 through 2018, with total costs of natural disasters during that period of approximately $100,000,000,000 per year.
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health consequences from climate change that impact communities across the United States.
- According to the National Climate and Health Assessment of the United States Global Change Research Program, climate change is a significant threat to the health of the people of the United States, leading to increased—
- temperature-related deaths and illnesses;
- air quality impacts;
- extreme weather events;
- numbers of vector-borne diseases;
- waterborne illnesses;
- food safety, nutrition, and distribution complications; and
- mental health and well-being concerns.
- The consequences of climate change already disproportionately impact frontline communities and endanger populations made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to extreme weather events, such as children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing disabilities and health conditions.
- Individuals and families on the frontlines of climate change across the United States, including territories, living with income inequality and poverty, institutional racism, inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health care, housing, clean water, and food security are often in close proximity to environmental stressors or sources of pollution, particularly communities of color, indigenous communities, and low-income communities, which—
- are often the first exposed to the impacts of climate change;
- experience outsized risk because of the close proximity of the community to environmental hazards and stressors, in addition to collocation with waste and other sources of pollution; and
- have the fewest resources to mitigate those impacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate preexisting challenges.
- According to Dr. Beverly Wright and Dr. Robert Bullard, ‘‘environmental and public health threats from natural and human-made disasters are not randomly distributed, affecting some communities more than others,’’ and therefore a response to the climate emergency necessitates the adoption of policies and processes rooted in principles of racial equity, self-determination, and democracy, as well as the fundamental human rights of all people to clean air and water, healthy food, adequate land, education, and shelter, as promulgated in the 1991 Principles of Environmental Justice.
- Climate change holds grave and immediate consequences not just for the population of the United States, including territories, but for communities across the world, particularly those communities in the Global South on the frontlines of the climate crisis that are at risk of forced displacement.
- Communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas are all dramatically affected by climate change, though the specific economic, health, social, and environmental impacts may be different.
- The Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community have identified climate change as a threat to national security, and the Department of Homeland Security views climate change as a top homeland security risk.
- Climate change is a threat multiplier with the potential—
- to exacerbate many of the challenges the United States already confronts, including conflicts over scarce resources, conditions conducive to violent extremism, and the spread of infectious diseases; and
- to produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the future.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected in 2018 that the Earth could warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as early as 2030.
- The climatic changes resulting from global warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, including changes resulting from global warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, are projected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, water supplies, human security, and economic growth.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services found in 2019 that human-induced climate change is pushing the planet toward the sixth mass species extinction, which threatens the food security, water supply, and well-being of billions of people.
- According to climate scientists, limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and likely lower, is most likely to avoid irreversible and catastrophic climate change.
- Even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to experience—
- a significant rise in sea levels;
- extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and
- intensifying droughts, floods, wildfires, and other extreme weather events.
- According to climate scientists, addressing the climate emergency will require an economically just phase-out of the use of oil, gas, and coal in order to keep the carbon that is the primary constituent of fossil fuels in the ground and out of the atmosphere.
- The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined that limiting warming through emissions reduction and carbon sequestration will require rapid and immediate acceleration and proliferation of ‘‘far-reaching, multilevel, and cross-sectoral climate mitigation’’ and ‘‘transitions in energy, land, urban and rural infrastructure (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems’’.
- In the United States, massive, comprehensive, and urgent governmental action is required immediately to achieve the transitions of those systems in response to the severe existing and projected economic, social, public health, and national security threats posed by the climate crisis.
- The massive scope and scale of action necessary to stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to develop and implement effective, just, and equitable policies to address the climate crisis.
- The Constitution of the United States protects the fundamental rights to life, liberty, property, and equal protection of the laws.
- A climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society, and is preservative of fundamental rights, including the rights to life, liberty, property, personal security, family autonomy, bodily integrity, and the ability to learn, practice, and transmit cultural and religious traditions.
- The United States has a proud history of collaborative, constructive, massive-scale Federal mobilizations of resources and labor in order to solve great challenges, such as the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World War II.
- The United States stands uniquely poised to substantially grow the economy and attain social and health benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and labor that far outweigh the costs climate change will inflict as a result of inaction.
- Millions of middle class jobs can be created by raising labor standards through project labor agreements and protecting and expanding the right of workers to organize so that workers in the United States and the communities of those workers are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future in a zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair union wages with quality benefits.
- Frontline communities, Tribal governments and communities, people of color, and labor unions must be equitably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization, in such a way that aligns with the 1996 Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing, and prioritized through local climate mitiga tion and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that workers in the United States, and the communities of those workers, are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future.
- A number of local jurisdictions and governments in the United States, including New York City and Los Angeles, and across the world, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, have already declared a climate emergency, and a number of State and local governments are considering declaring a climate emergency.
- State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported in efforts to hold to account those whose activities have deepened and accelerated the climate crisis and who have benefitted from delayed action to address the climate change emergency and to develop a clean energy economy.
- A collaborative response to the climate crisis will require the Federal Government to work with international, State, and local governments, including with those governments that have declared a climate emergency, to reverse the impacts of the climate crisis.
- The United States has an obligation, as a primary driver of accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emergency speed to restore a safe climate and environment not just for communities of the United States but for communities across the world, particularly those on the frontlines of the climate crisis which have least contributed to the crisis, and to account for global and community impacts of any actions it takes in response to the climate crisis.
- IN GENERAL.—The President shall declare a national emergency under section 201 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621) with respect to climate change.
- RESPONSE.—In responding to the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a), the President shall ensure that the Federal Government—
- invests in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, including projects that—
- upgrade the public infrastructure to expand access to clean and affordable energy, transportation, high-speed broadband, and water, particularly for public systems;
- modernize and retrofit millions of homes, schools, offices, and industrial buildings to cut pollution and costs;
- invest in public health, in preparation for and in response to increasingly extreme climatic events;
- protect and restore wetlands, forests, public lands, and other natural climate solutions;
- create opportunities for farmers and rural communities, including by bolstering regenerative agriculture, and invest in local and regional food systems that support farmers, agricultural workers, healthy soil, and climate resilience;
- develop and transform the industrial base of the United States, while creating high-skill, high-wage manufacturing jobs across the country, including by expanding manufacturing of clean technologies, reducing industrial pollution, and prioritizing clean, domestic manufacturing for the aforementioned investments; and
- establish new employment programs, as necessary, to meet the goals described in subparagraphs (A) through (F);
- makes investments that enable—
- a racially and socially just transition to a clean energy economy by ensuring that at least 40 percent of investments flow to historically disadvantaged communities;
- greenhouse gas emission reductions;
- resilience in the face of climate change impacts;
- a racially and socially just transition to a clean energy economy;
- small business support, especially for women and minority-owned businesses; and
- the expansion of public services;
- avoids solutions that—
- increase inequality;
- exacerbate, or fail to reduce, pollution at source;
- violate human rights;
- privatize public lands, water, or nature;
- expedite the destruction of ecosystems; or
- decrease union density or membership;
- creates jobs that conform to labor standards that—
- provide family-sustaining wages and benefits;
- ensure safe workplaces;
- protect the rights of workers to organize; and
- prioritize the hiring of local workers to ensure wages stay within communities and stimulate local economic activity;
- prioritizes local and equitable hiring and contracting that creates opportunities for—
- communities of color and indigenous communities;
- women;
- veterans;
- LGBTQIA+ individuals;
- disabled and chronically ill individuals;
- formerly incarcerated individuals; and
- otherwise marginalized communities;
- combats environmental injustice, including by—
- curtailing air, water, and land pollution from all sources;
- removing health hazards from communities;
- remediating the cumulative health and environmental impacts of toxic pollution and climate change;
- ensuring that affected communities have equitable access to public health resources that have been systemically denied to communities of color and Indigenous communities; and
- upholding the fundamental rights of all Americans from the perils of climate change; and
- reinvests in existing public sector institutions and creates new public sector institutions, inspired by and improving upon New Deal-era institutions by addressing historic inequities, to strategically and coherently mobilize and channel investments at the scale and pace required by the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a).
- invests in large scale mitigation and resiliency projects, including projects that—
- REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the President shall submit to Congress a report describing actions taken in response to the national emergency declared pursuant to subsection (a).
Green New Appalachia: The Smart Way To Sell Climate Action To Joe Manchin
This post is an expanded version of a Twitter thread.
With the pair of Democratic U.S. Senate victories in Georgia, the Democratic Party will have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress come January 20th. West Virginia’s Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, will become the chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and will hold tremendous power over any climate legislation.
While I’m sure that part of bribing Manchin to go along with a series of climate bills as bold as President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign platform will require funds for coal-industry boondoggles like direct air capture and carbon-capture sequestration, as well as for advanced nuclear technology, we ought to be a bit more creative than that.
Here are a few other ideas to consider:- New funds for building pumped hydroelectric storage facilities in Appalachia. These use abandoned coal mines to create a low-tech battery for renewable energy storage, pumping water into the uphill mines when production is high and releasing it through turbines when it wanes.
- Ending the federal grant program that incentivizes converting abandoned strip mines into federal prisons. Those funds should go toward building up the clean energy and electrovoltaic manufacturing facilities in Appalachia on sites that have already been cleared or flattened sites that are adjacent to transportation infrastructure.
- Decommissioning the network of prisons in Appalachia, converting their onsite and resilient electricity generation infrastructure into community-based electric co-ops. Every prison there has the ability to island itself off from the grid and power itself. Give that power to the people of Appalachia.
- Investing in the now-closed north-south railway that could connect Appalachia to Atlanta in the South, Pittsburgh to the North, Columbus and St. Louis to the West, and the entire northeast corridor to the East. A massive corridor already exists and just needs track upgrades for it to be active.
- Offering Appalachia up as the first pilot site for a new Climate Conservation Corps that puts people to work capping orphaned wells, remediating brownfield and other toxic sites, and reforesting the hiking, hunting, and other recreational landscapes of the region.
The best part of it all is that “bribing” Joe Manchin to go along with a more progressive climate agenda is really just a way of driving investment to some of the people and places that need it most—in this case, Central Appalachia.
Billy Fleming is the Wilks Family Director of the Ian L. McHarg Center in the Weitzman School of Design. and a senior fellow with Data for Progress.
Biden Names John Kerry As Special Climate Envoy, With Seat on National Security Council
President-elect Joe Biden has named former senator and Secretary of State John Kerry as his special envoy for climate, sitting on the National Security Council. Throughout his long career of public service, Kerry has been an ardent environmentalist who seeks to find common ground through diplomacy. His approach has found greater success on the international stage than with American conservatives, despite repeated attempts.
As a Massachusetts senator, Kerry worked desperately to salvage climate legislation when it was abandoned by the Obama White House following the Tea Party uprising of 2009. Lacking a unified Democratic caucus, Kerry tried without success to find Republican votes for climate legislation by working with former running mate Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
As Obama’s second Secretary of State, John Kerry’s diplomatic leadership was key to the successful Paris agreement, which marked a dramatic turnaround from the 2009 debacle of the Copenhagen climate talks. His support for killing the Canada-to-US Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline – in response to powerful pressure from climate activists – was also a change in direction from Kerry’s predecessor Hillary Clinton, who fast-tracked the permit process for the project. Like Clinton, however, Secretary of State Kerry was bullish on fracking as a means of energy diplomacy, despite its threat to the climate.
Kerry’s diplomatic approach has borne less fruit at home. Republicans such as Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump mocked Secretary Kerry for calling global warming “perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction,” presaging the burn-it-all-down Trump presidency.
During the Trump years, Kerry founded a new organization called World War Zero, still attempting to find Republicans to get on board with climate action. Although Kerry’s organization supposedly intends to build a broad coalition of climate activists, World War Zero’s Republican participants include climate-science skeptic John Kasich, who mocks youth climate activists and vilifies the Green New Deal.
In his role Kerry will face several challenges unresolved by previous administrations. To date, immigration, trade, peace, and climate policy have been treated as wholly distinct milieus by government and advocates alike. Remarkably, even energy and climate diplomacy have largely operated on parallel tracks, with clashing agendas.
A critical test will be whether Kerry has say over international trade agreements which have always trumped climate negotiations. The so-called free-trade agenda has rendered international climate deals moot.
Similarly, it remains to be seen if Kerry will be an effective spokesman for the global South as it is ravaged by fossil-fueled storms and floods and drought, destabilizing governments and fueling the global migration crisis.
The military euphemism is that climate pollution is a “threat multiplier” – in other words, global conflict is now defined by the devastation to human civilization that results from the industrial destabilization of a habitable climate.
In response to this rising destabilization, right-wing movements around the globe have seized on the politics of militarized nativism and environmental exploitation, described approvingly by white-nationalist ecologist Garrett Hardin as “lifeboat ethics” in 1974.
One hopes that Kerry’s position on the National Security Council could mean the US military may shift away from its longtime role as the armed protection for the global oil industry. Kerry is highly interested in the military’s role during the Anthropocene. With his World War Zero campaign, Kerry has brought together a long list of military brass and former Defense Department officials.
Unfortunately, the primary narrative for climate policy within military circles is one of responding to the rising threats of climate destruction, with little to no engagement in ending climate pollution.
Of course, Kerry can’t guide international climate policy on his own. The makeup of Biden’s team will determine what is possible.
Rahm Emanuel, the neoliberal who was instrumental in killing White House support for climate legislation as Obama’s chief of staff, is being considered for U.S. Trade Representative. His selection would be a devastating setback.
Biden campaign advisor Heather Zichal, who has become notorious for joining the fracked-gas industry after leaving the Obama White House, came to prominence as the top Kerry climate policy staffer on his presidential campaign and in his Senate office. Zichal has been mentioned as a possible high-level staffer in the Biden White House despite broad opposition from climate activists.
Biden’s pick for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, began his career studying fossil-fuel geopolitics. He wrote his dissertation in the 1980s on the Siberian pipeline crisis, in which the Reagan administration imposed far-reaching sanctions on oil-sector technology sharing in an attempt to block the pipeline’s construction. Blinken criticized the sanctions effort. His career since has been interventionist and pro-fossil-fuel development.
Surmounting the challenges of being Biden’s international climate czar will be a life-defining test for the 76-year-old statesman.